Ritz (Lincoln)

• Theatre ID
  194
• Built / Converted
  1937
• Dates of use
  • : ?1937-1985
• Current state
  Extant
• Current use
  Licensed premises (No consistent record of live theatre use; previously cinema, now pub, auditorium disused)
• Address
  High Street, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England

Details

The Ritz is marginal for inclusion here, since it was ill-designed for any kind of stage presentations. Its original stage was small (less than 12ft deep) and backstage facilities were minimal. There was no fly tower and no get in. It was designed as a cinema, closed in 1981 and reopened in 1985 as a cinema and concert venue, for which purpose a forestage (approx 16ft deep) was built. In 2004 the front of house was converted to a Wetherspoon’s pub, the auditorium being left disused. The building occupies a corner site. It is of plain brick with a diamond pattern picked out by projecting bricks. The auditorium has dull, unrelieved walls, curving into an equally plain ceiling. There are shallow alcoves either side of the proscenium.

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• Other names
  Ritz, Odeon
• Events
  • Use: ?1937-1985
  • 1937 Design/Construction:
    • Leslie C Norton - Architect
  • 1985 Alteration: stage extended
    • Unknown - Architect
  • 2004 Alteration: converted to pub
    • Unknown - Architect
  • 1937 Owner/Management: Central Picture Theatres (Lincoln) Ltd, proprietor
  • 1956 Owner/Management: Rank Organisation, proprietor
  • 1985 Owner/Management: Barrie Stead, proprietor
  • 2004 Owner/Management: by Wetherspoon’s (as pub)
• Capacities
  • Original: 1600
  • Later: 1993: 1235
  • Current: 917
• Listings
  • Grade Not listed
• Stage type
  • Flat
• Dimensions
  • Stage dimensions: d: 11ft 9in w SL: 25ft SR: 24ft
  • Proscenium width: 39ft x 23ft 10in
  • Height to grid: 56ft
  • Orchestra pit: none